TechSec educational program announced

DELRAY BEACH, Fla.—TechSec Solutions, the industry's premiere conference dedicated to new and emerging security technologies, announced its lineup of educational sessions for 2016.

The conference will take place at the Delray Beach Marriot here Feb. 2-3.

The first session will be “Biometrics: Battle of the body parts.” Moderator Ray Coulombe of Security Specifiers will take a look at four leading technologies—facial recognition, eye scan, fingerprint, and hand geometry. Then, a jury of four young security professionals will vote on the best biometric right now. Speakers include Manish Dalal of ZKAccess; Colleen Dunlap at Stone Lock Global; Blaine Frederick from EyeLock, Stanley Security; and Samir Tamer, of Allegion. The session will cover technology fundamentals, comparative advantages and disadvantages and best application areas.

“Internet of Things today and tomorrow” will address how the IoT is affecting the security industry today. Expect real-world examples of its applications in the security space and elsewhere. Moderated by Jeremy Brecher, VP technology, electronic security Diebold Security, speakers include Michael Campbell, president and CEO, MachineShop.

The session “Healthy and wise?” brings together health care security leaders Ashley Ditta, director of Brigham & Women's Faulkner Hospital, and Christopher C. Moore, manager, public safety, and security at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth, Mass. Ralph Nerette, director of security and emergency management at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, will act as the session's moderator.

In the “Next Gen integrators and end users face off,” six of Security Systems News' 2015 “20 under 40” winners—three from the integrator class and three from the end user class—will talk about dealing with manufacturer promises, security consultants, assessing new technology and with each other.

“In The Big Easy, it's not easy,” will feature Ross Bourgeios, assistant chief of public safety at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome/Smoothie King Center/Champion Square in New Orleans,  and an SSN Class of 2015 “20 under 40” end user winner, will describe what goes into protecting thousands of spectators at a decades-old "porous" venue that's housed seven Super Bowl games.

The session “Cybersecurity threatens the physical security stronghold” will feature Joe Coe, sales engineer for Hikvision, and Rodney Thayer, consultant with Smithee, Spelvin, Agnew & Plinge. Chris Peckham, senior VP, chief technology officer and special projects at Kratos, will moderate the discussion on the vulnerabilities that emerge as the security industry embraces more Internet connectivity.

In “Casino security: Want to bet against it?” MGM Resorts' director of surveillance technology Eddy Collier will speak about how casinos leads the way in video surveillance, specifically with their use of analytics and HD technology.